First Combined Study on LIV from Observations of Energy-dependent Time Delays from Multiple-type Gamma-ray Sources -- Part I. Motivation, Method Description and Validation through Simulations of H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS Datasets
J. Bolmont, S. Caroff, M. Gaug, A. Gent, A. Jacholkowska, D. Kerszberg, C. Levy, T. Lin, M. Martinez, L. Nogues, A. N. Otte, C. Perennes, M. Ronco, T. Terzić
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19 pages, 9 figures, submitted to ApJ. Latest version including first referee's comments
Gamma-ray astronomy has become one of the main experimental ways to test the modified dispersion relations (MDRs) of photons in vacuum, obtained in some attempts to formulate a theory of Quantum Gravity. The MDRs in use imply time delays which depend on the energy, and which increase with distance following some function of redshift. The use of transient, or variable, distant and highly energetic sources, already allows us to set stringent limits on the energy scale related to this phenomenon, usually thought to be of the order of the Planck energy, but robust conclusions on the existence of MDR-related propagation effects still require the analysis of a large population of sources.
In order to gather the biggest sample of sources possible for MDR searches at teraelectronvolt energies, the H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS collaborations enacted a joint task force to combine all their relevant data to constrain the Quantum Gravity energy scale. In the present article, the likelihood method used, to combine the data and provide a common limit, is described in detail and tested through simulations of recorded data sets for a gamma-ray burst, three flaring active galactic nuclei and two pulsars. Statistical and systematic errors are assessed and included in the likelihood as nuisance parameters. In addition, a comparison of two different formalisms for distance dependence of the time lags is performed for the first time. In a second article, to appear later, the method will be applied on all relevant data from the three experiments.
Gamma-Ray bursts, flaring active galactic nuclei and pulsars are distant and energetic astrophysical sources, detected up to tens of TeV with Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). Due to their high variability, they are the most suitable sources for energy-dependent time-delay searches related to Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) predicted by some Quantum Gravity (QG) models. However, these studies require large datasets. A working group between the three major IACTs ground experiments - H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS - has been formed to address this issue and combine for the first …
The gamma-ray binary HESS J0632+057 has been observed at very-high energies (E $>$ 100 GeV) for more than ten years by the major systems of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. We present a summary of results obtained with the H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS experiments based on roughly 440 h of observations in total. This includes a discussion of an unusually bright TeV outburst of HESS J0632+057 in January 2018. The updated gamma-ray light curve now covers all phases of the orbital period with significant detections in almost all orbital phases. Results are discussed in context with simult…
1ES 1218+304 is a moderate-redshift (z = 0.182) high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object (HBL). Detected by both the MAGIC and VERITAS gamma-ray observatories, 1ES 1218+304 is frequently monitored by VERITAS as part of its long-term blazar monitoring program. On the 3rd of January 2019, during a regularly scheduled blazar snapshot, VERITAS observed 1ES 1218+304 to have an elevated VHE flux state which continued through January 5 (ATEL #12360). In addition to VERITAS observations, MAGIC also detected elevated VHE emission (ATEL #12354) and Swift-BAT/XRT and Tuorla observations, in X-ray and optical …
The blazar Mrk 501 is among the brightest X-ray and TeV sources in the sky, and among the few sources whose spectral energy distributions can be characterized by current instruments with relatively short observations (minutes to hours). In 2013, we organized an extensive multi-instrument campaign including Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, VERITAS, F-GAMMA, Swift, GASP-WEBT, and other groups and instruments which provided the most detailed temporal and energy coverage on Mrk 501 to date. This campaign included, for the first time, observations with the Nuclear Stereoscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), a satellit…
The detection of an astrophysical flux of high-energy neutrinos by IceCube is a major step forward in the search for the origin of cosmic rays, as this emission is expected to originate in hadronic interactions taking place in or near cosmic-ray accelerators. No neutrino point sources, or a significant correlation with known astrophysical objects, have been identified in the IceCube data so far that could reveal the location of the neutrino emission sites. The hadronic interactions responsible for the neutrino emission should also lead to the production of high-energy gamma rays from neutral p…
MAXI J1820+070 is a new low-mass microquasar hosting a black hole recently discovered in X-rays by the MAXI instrument. It is the counterpart of ASASSN-18ey, discovered in optical a few days before by ASAS-SN. This source underwent a major outburst in 2018, during which it completed the typical "q-shaped" path in the hardness-intensity diagram. MAGIC, VERITAS and H.E.S.S. gamma-ray telescopes observed the sky position of MAXI J1820+070 for a total of more than 90 hours in 2018. In addition, some observations were carried out using MAGIC Central Pixel - a dedicated central pixel capable of dete…
The search for Dark Matter (DM) has great potential to reveal physics beyond the Standard Model. As such, searches for evidence of DM particles are being carried out using a wide range of techniques, such as direct searches for DM particles, searches for DM produced with colliders, and indirect searches for the Standard Model annihilation products of DM. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are excellent targets for indirect Dark Matter searches due to their relatively high DM content and negligible expected astrophysical background. A collaboration was formed to maximise the sensitivity of DM se…
The realtime follow-up of neutrino events is a promising approach to search for astrophysical neutrino sources. It has so far provided compelling evidence for a neutrino point source: the flaring gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056 observed in coincidence with the high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A detected by IceCube. The detection of very-high-energy gamma rays (VHE, $\mathrm{E} > 100\,\mathrm{GeV}$) from this source helped establish the coincidence and constrained the modeling of the blazar emission at the time of the IceCube event. The four major imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays …
Cosmological and astrophysical observations suggest that 85\% of the total matter of the Universe is made of Dark Matter (DM). However, its nature remains one of the most challenging and fundamental open questions of particle physics. Assuming particle DM, this exotic form of matter cannot consist of Standard Model (SM) particles. Many models have been developed to attempt unraveling the nature of DM such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), the most favored particle candidates. WIMP annihilations and decay could produce SM particles which in turn hadronize and decay to give SM sec…
The Galactic Center has long been a region of interest for high-energy and very-high-energy observations. Many potential sources of GeV/TeV gamma-ray emission have been suggested, e.g., the accretion of matter onto the black hole, cosmic rays from a nearby supernova remnant, or the annihilation of dark matter particles. The Galactic Center has been detected at MeV/GeV energies by EGRET and recently by Fermi/LAT. At GeV/TeV energies, the Galactic Center was detected by different ground-based Cherenkov telescopes such as CANGAROO, Whipple 10m, H.E.S.S., and MAGIC. We present the results from 15 …
Due to its extraordinarily high concentration of known relativistic particle accelerators such as pulsar wind nebula, supernova remnants, dense molecular cloud regions, and the supermassive black hole (Sgr A*); the center of the Milky Way galaxy has long been an ideal target for high energy (HE, 0.1-100 GeV) and very high energy ( VHE, 50 GeV-50 TeV) gamma-ray emission. Indeed, detections of Sgr A* and other nearby regions of gamma-ray emission have been reported by EGRET and Fermi-LAT in the HE band, as well as CANGAROO, Whipple, HESS, VERITAS, and MAGIC in the VHE band. Here we report on the…
Quantum gravity (QG) theories over the past fifty years have sought to understand the relationship between the four fundamental interactions. A major insight gained in this area is that all interactions could possibly unify at Planck-scale energies ~10$^{19}$ GeV. A potential consequence of the unification of gravity with the other three interactions would be a breaking of Lorentz symmetry at Planck-scale energies. The interpretation of Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements from gamma-ray telescopes have been able to put constraints on the energy scales of the Lorentz-invariance violations (LIV). …
After nearly a decade of operation, the three major arrays of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes have revolutionized our view of the Very High Energy Universe, unveiling more than 100 sources of various types. MAGIC, consisting of two 17 m diameter telescopes on the Canary island of La Palma, and VERITAS, with four 12 m telescopes installed in southern Arizona, USA, have primarily explored the extragalactic sky, where the majority of the sources are active galactic nuclei (AGN), with γ-ray emission originating in their relativistic jets. ...... Highlights of these observations with H.E.S.S., MAG…
Cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs) at GeV-TeV energies are a unique probe of our local Galactic neighbourhood. CREs lose energy rapidly via inverse Compton scattering and synchrotron processes while propagating in the Galaxy, effectively placing a maximal propagation distance for TeV electrons of order ~1 kpc. Within this window, detected CREs can come from only a handful of known, nearby astrophysical sources capable of exciting CREs to that energy or from more exotic production mechanisms, like particle dark matter. HESS, and later MAGIC, have shown that ground-based imaging atmospher…
The galactic center (GC) has long been a region of interest for high-energy and very-high-energy observations. Many potential sources of GeV/TeV gamma-ray emission are located in the GC region, e.g. the accretion of matter onto the central black hole, cosmic rays from a nearby shell-type super nova remnant, or the annihilation of dark matter. The GC has been detected at MeV/GeV energies by EGRET and recently by Fermi/LAT. At TeV energies, the GC was detected at the level of 4 standard deviations with the Whipple 10m telescope and with one order of magnitude better sensitivity by H.E.S.S. and M…
BL Lacertae is the prototype of the blazar subclass known as BL Lac type objects. BL Lacertae object itself is a low-frequency-peaked BL Lac(LBL). Very high energy (VHE) gamma ray emission from this source was discovered in 2005 by MAGIC observatory while the source was at a flaring state. Since then, VHE gamma rays from this source has been detected several times. However, all of those times the source was in a high activity state. Former studies suggest several non-thermal zones emitting in gamma-rays, then gamma-ray flare should be composed of a convolution. Observing the BL Lacertae object…
In recent years, the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray telescope has detected a population of over 160 gamma-ray pulsars, which has enabled the detailed study of electromagnetic radiation from pulsars at energies above 100 MeV. Further, since the surprising detection of the Crab pulsar in very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma rays by the MAGIC and VERITAS collaborations, there has been an ongoing effort in the astrophysics community to detect new pulsars in the VHE band. However, the Crab remains the only pulsar so far detected in VHE gamma rays, raising the question of whether or not the Crab is unique…
The giant radio galaxy M 87 is located at a distance of 16.7 Mpc and harbors a super-massive black hole (6 billion solar masses) in its center. M 87 is one of just three radio galaxies known to emit TeV gamma-rays. The structure of its relativistic plasma jet, which is not pointing towards our line of sight, is spatially resolved in X-ray (Chandra), optical and radio (VLA/VLBA) observations. The mechanism and location of the TeV emitting region is one of the least understood aspects of AGN. In spring 2008 and 2010, the three TeV observatories VERITAS, MAGIC and H.E.S.S. detected two major TeV …
During May 2013, a gamma-ray flare from the BL Lac object 1ES 1727+502 (z=0.055) has been detected with the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes. This detection represents the first evidence of very-high-energy (E>100 GeV) variability from this blazar and has been achieved using a reduced-high-voltage configuration which allows observations under bright moonlight. The integral flux is about five times higher than the archival VHE flux measured by MAGIC. The detection triggered additional VERITAS observations during standard dark-time and multiwavelength observations from infrared to X-rays with the FL…
In the last few years, the Fermi-LAT telescope has discovered over a 100 pulsars at energies above 100 MeV, increasing the number of known gamma-ray pulsars by an order of magnitude. In parallel, imaging Cherenkov telescopes, such as MAGIC and VERITAS, have detected for the first time VHE pulsed gamma-rays from the Crab pulsar. Such detections have revealed that the Crab VHE spectrum follows a power-law up to at least 400 GeV, challenging most theoretical models, and opening wide possibilities of detecting more pulsars from the ground with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). In this co…
Recent detection of blazar 3C279 by MAGIC has confirmed previous indications by H.E.S.S. that the Universe is more transparent to very-high-energy gamma rays than currently thought. This circumstance can be reconciled with observations of nearby blazars provided that photon oscillations into a very light Axion-Like Particle occur in extragalactic magnetic fields. The emerging "DARMA scenario" can be tested in the near future by the satellite-borne Fermi LAT detector as well as by the ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes H.E.S.S., MAGIC, CANGAROO III, VERITAS and by the Extensi…
We report observation of the supernova remnant IC443 (G189.1+3.0) with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Large Area Telescope (LAT) in the energy band between 200MeV and 50GeV. IC443 is a shell-type supernova remnant with mixed morphology located off the outer Galactic plane where high-energy emission has been detected in the X-ray, GeV and TeV gamma-ray bands. Past observations suggest IC443 has been interacting with surrounding interstellar matter. Proximity between dense shocked molecular clouds and GeV-TeV gamma-ray emission regions detected by EGRET, MAGIC and VERITAS suggests an interp…
Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been considered the leading candidates for the accelerators of cosmic rays within the Galaxy through the process of diffusive shock acceleration. The connection between SNRs and cosmic rays is supported by the detection of high energy (HE; 100 MeV to 100 GeV) and very high energy (VHE; 100 GeV to 100 TeV) gamma rays from young and middle-aged SNRs. However, the interpretation of the gamma-ray observations is not unique. This is because gamma rays can be produced both by electrons through non-thermal Bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton scattering, and by proto…
The Galactic center is an interesting region for high-energy (0.1-100 GeV) and very-high-energy (E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray observations. Potential sources of GeV/TeV gamma-ray emission have been suggested, e.g., the accretion of matter onto the supermassive black hole, cosmic rays from a nearby supernova remnant (e.g. SgrA East), particle acceleration in a plerion, or the annihilation of dark matter particles. The Galactic center has been detected by EGRET and by Fermi/LAT in the MeV/GeV energy band. At TeV energies, the Galactic center was detected with moderate significance by the CANGAROO and …
The recent detection of blazar 3C279 by MAGIC has confirmed previous indications by H.E.S.S. that the Universe is more transparent to very-high-energy gamma rays than previously thought. We show that this fact can be reconciled with standard blazar emission models provided photon oscillations into a veri light Axion-Like Particle occur in extragalactic magnetic fields. A quantitative estimate of this effect explains the observed spectrum of 3C279. Our prediction can be tested in the near future by the satellite-borne GLAST detector as well as by the ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov T…
We present the results of observations of the TeV binary LS I +61 303 with the VERITAS telescope array between 2008 and 2010, at energies above 300 GeV. In the past, both ground-based gamma-ray telescopes VERITAS and MAGIC have reported detections of TeV emission near the apastron phases of the binary orbit. The observations presented here show no strong evidence for TeV emission during these orbital phases; however, during observations taken in late 2010, significant emission was detected from the source close to the phase of superior conjunction (much closer to periastron passage) at a 5.6 s…
The variable gamma-ray source HESS J0632+057 is an excellent candidate for a gamma-ray binary. The putative binary system was discovered as a point-like VHE gamma-ray source by HESS. Later measurements by VERITAS yielding no detection, provided evidence for variable emission in the gamma-ray domain. A variable X-ray source as well as a Be star (MWC 148) are found at the location of the gamma-ray source. Recently a periodic X-ray outburst occurring about every 320 days was reported by Swift (ATel 3152). The putative binary system was observed by the MAGIC stereo system in 2010 and 2011. Our mea…
The blazar 1ES1218+30.4 has been previously detected by the VERITAS and MAGIC telescopes in the very high energies. The new detection of VERITAS from December 2008 to April 2009 proves that 1ES1218+30.4 is not static, but shows short-time variability. We show that the time variability may be explained in the context of a self-consistent synchrotron-self Compton model, while the long time observation do not necessarily require a time-resolved treatment. The kinetic equations for electrons and photons in a plasma blob are solved numerically including Fermi acceleration for electrons as well as s…
Supernova remnants (SNRs) have long been considered the leading candidate sites for the acceleration of cosmic rays within the Galaxy through the process of diffusive shock acceleration. The connection between SNRs and cosmic rays is supported by the detection of high energy (HE; 100 MeV to 100 GeV) and very high energy (VHE; 100 GeV to 100 TeV) gamma rays from young and middle-aged SNRs. However, the interpretation of the gamma-ray observations is not unique. This is due to the fact that gamma rays can be produced by electrons through non-thermal Bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton scattering,…
3C 66A is an intermediate-frequency peaked BL Lacertae object of uncertain redshift. We report recent observations of the region around the blazar with the MAGIC telescopes. The source was observed and detected in 2009 December and 2010 January, in 2.3 h of good quality data. The signal could clearly be assigned to the blazar 3C 66A, statistically and systematically rejecting the nearby radio galaxy 3C 66B as a possible origin of the gamma-ray signal by 3.6 standard deviations. The derived integral flux above 100GeV is 8.3% of the Crab Nebula flux, and the energy spectrum is reproduced by a po…
The exceptional 2017 gamma-ray flare of the radio galaxy NGC 1275: VERITAS and Multiwavelength Observations
CP3-Origins, University of Southern Denmark（南丹麦大学 CP3-起源中心）；DePauw University（迪堡大学）；Temple University（天普大学）；University of Utah（犹他大学）；University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校）；California Polytechnic State University（加州州立理工大学）；Washington University（华盛顿大学）；Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics（圣克鲁斯粒子物理研究所）；University of California, Santa Cruz（加州大学圣克鲁兹分校）；Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学）
One of the brightest regions of diffuse gamma-ray emission in the northern sky is the Cygnus star-forming region, where one can assume the most energetic processes are taking place. The Dragonfly Nebula (MGRO J2019+37) is one of the brightest sources in the Cygnus region. First discovered by MILAGRO, it was later resolved into two sources by VERITAS: the faint point-like source VER J2016+371 and the bright extended source VER J2019+368. The latter accounts for the bulk of the MGRO J2019+37 emission, with the spectrum among the hardest in the TeV range. We report the results of a dedicated MAGI…
The very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray blazar Markarian 501 has a history of extreme spectral variability and is an excellent laboratory for studying the physical processes within the jets of active galactic nuclei. A short term multi-wavelength study of Markarian 501 was coordinated in March 2009 using the Suzaku X-ray satellite as well as the VERITAS and MAGIC experiments to cover the critical X-ray and VHE gamma-ray bands. The results of the quiescent-state observations with VERITAS and Suzaku are combined with public data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and compared to …
We report on VERITAS observations of the BL Lac object B2 1215+30 between 2008 and 2012. During this period, the source was detected at very high energies (VHE; E > 100 GeV) by VERITAS with a significance of $8.9σ$ and showed clear variability on time scales larger than months. In 2011, the source was found to be in a relatively bright state and a power-law fit to the differential photon spectrum yields a spectral index of $3.6 \pm 0.4_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 0.3_{\mathrm{syst}}$ with an integral flux above 200 GeV of $(8.0 \pm 0.9_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 3.2_{\mathrm{syst}}) \times 10^{-12}\, \mathrm…
We present results from an intensive VERITAS monitoring campaign of the high-frequency peaked BL Lac object 1ES 1218+304 in 2008/2009. Although 1ES 1218+304 was detected previously by MAGIC and VERITAS at a persistent level of ~6% of the Crab Nebula flux, the new VERITAS data reveal a prominent flare reaching ~20% of the Crab. While very high energy (VHE) flares are quite common in many nearby blazars, the case of 1ES 1218+304 (redshift z = 0.182) is particularly interesting since it belongs to a group of blazars that exhibit unusually hard VHE spectra considering their redshifts. When correct…
Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes study the highest energy (up to tens of TeV) photon emission coming from nearby and distant astrophysical sources, thus providing valuable results from searches for Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) effects. Highly variable, energetic and distant sources such as Pulsars and AGNs are the best targets for the Time-of-Flight LIV studies. However, the limited number of observations of AGN flares or of high-energy pulsed emission greatly restricts the potential of such studies, especially any potential LIV effects as a function of redshift. To address these…
We present the results of sixteen Swift-triggered GRB follow-up observations taken with the VERITAS telescope array from January, 2007 to June, 2009. The median energy threshold and response time of these observations was 260 GeV and 320 s, respectively. Observations had an average duration of 90 minutes. Each burst is analyzed independently in two modes: over the whole duration of the observations and again over a shorter time scale determined by the maximum VERITAS sensitivity to a burst with a t^-1.5 time profile. This temporal model is characteristic of GRB afterglows with high-energy, lon…
We present the results of a multiwavelength observational campaign on the TeV binary system LS I +61 303 with the VERITAS telescope array (>200 GeV), Fermi-LAT (0.3-300 GeV), and Swift-XRT (2-10 keV). The data were taken from December 2011 through January 2012 and show a strong detection in all three wavebands. During this period VERITAS obtained 24.9 hours of quality selected livetime data in which LS I +61 303 was detected at a statistical sig- nificance of 11.9 sigma. These TeV observations show evidence for nightly variability in the TeV regime at a post-trial significance of 3.6 sigma. Th…
Early indications by H.E.S.S. and the subsequent detection of blazar 3C279 by MAGIC show that the Universe is more transparent to very-high-energy gamma rays than previously thought. We demonstrate that this circumstance can be reconciled with standard blazar emission models provided that photon oscillations into a very light Axion-Like Particle occur in extragalactic magnetic fields. A quantitative estimate of this effect indeed explains the observed spectrum of 3C279. Our prediction can be tested by the satellite-borne Fermi/LAT detector as well as by the ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Che…
High-energy photons (above the MeV) are a powerful probe for astrophysics and for fundamental physics under extreme conditions. During the recent years, our knowledge of the high-energy gamma-ray sky has impressively progressed thanks to the advent of new detectors for cosmic gamma rays, at ground (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS, HAWC) and in space (AGILE, Fermi). This presentation reviews the present status of the studies of fundamental physics problems with high-energy gamma rays, and discusses the expected experimental developments.
Gamma-ray studies are an essential tool in our search for the origin of cosmic rays. Instruments like the Fermi-LAT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS have revolutionized our understanding of the high energy Universe. This paper describes the status of the very rich field of gamma-ray astrophysics that contains a wealth of data on Galactic and extragalactic particle accelerators. It is the write-up of a rapporteur talk given at the 32nd ICRC in Beijing, China in which new results were presented with an emphasis on the cosmic-ray related studies of the Universe.
There are currently over 160 known gamma-ray pulsars. While most of them are detected only from space, at least two are now seen also from the ground. MAGIC and VERITAS have measured the gamma ray pulsed emission of the Crab pulsar up to hundreds of GeV and more recently MAGIC has reported emission at $\sim2$ TeV. Furthermore, in the Southern Hemisphere, H.E.S.S. has detected the Vela pulsar above 30 GeV. In addition, non-pulsed TeV emission coincident with pulsars has been detected by many groups, including the Milagro Collaboration. These GeV-TeV observations open the possibility of searchin…
Between the beginning of its full-scale scientific operations in 2007 and 2012, the VERITAS Cherenkov telescope array observed more than 130 blazars; of these, 26 were detected as very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) γ-ray sources. In this work, we present the analysis results of a sample of 114 undetected objects. The observations constitute a total live-time of ~570 hours. The sample includes several unidentified Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) sources (located at high Galactic latitude) as well as all the sources from the second Fermi-LAT catalog which are contained within the field of view o…
An anomalously large transparency of the Universe to gamma rays has recently been discovered by the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) H.E.S.S. and MAGIC. We show that observations can be reconciled with standard blazar emission models provided photon oscillations into a very light Axion-Like Particle occur in extragalactic magnetic fields. A quantitative estimate of this effect is successfully applied to the blazar 3C279. Our prediction can be tested with the satellite-borne Fermi/LAT detector as well as with the ground-based IACTs H.E.S.S., MAGIC, CANGAROOIII, VERITAS and the E…
High-energy photons are a powerful probe for astrophysics and for fundamental physics under extreme conditions. During the recent years, our knowledge of the most violent phenomena in the universe has impressively progressed thanks to the advent of new detectors for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays (above 100 GeV). Ground-based detectors like the Cherenkov telescopes (H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS) recently discovered more than 80 new sources. This talk reviews the present status of VHE gamma astrophysics, with emphasis on the recent results and on the experimental developments, keeping an eye …
The pulsar wind nebula (PWN) 3C 58 has been proposed as a good candidate for detection at VHE (VHE; E>100 GeV) for many years. It is powered by one of the highest spin-down power pulsars known (5\% of Crab pulsar) and it has been compared to the Crab Nebula due to its morphology. This object was previously observed by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (Whipple, VERITAS and MAGIC), and upper limit of 2.4\% Crab Unit (C.U.) at VHE. It was detected by Fermi-LAT with a spectrum extending beyond 100 GeV. We analyzed 81 hours of 3C 58 data taken with the MAGIC telescopes and we detected VHE g…
The radio source 3C 264, hosted by the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 3862, was observed with VERITAS between February 2017 and May 2019. These deep observations resulted in the discovery of very-high-energy (VHE; E $>100$ GeV) $γ$-ray emission from this active galaxy. An analysis of $\sim$57 hours of quality-selected live time yields a detection at the position of the source, corresponding to a statistical significance of 7.8 standard deviations above background. The observed VHE flux is variable on monthly time scales, with an elevated flux seen in 2018 observations. The VHE emission during thi…
Probing the sensitivity of CTAO-N LSTs observations at large zenith angles to the multi-TeV gamma-ray emission from the inner 10 parsecs of the Galactic Center
The VERITAS collaboration reports the detection of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object 1ES 1218+304 located at a redshift of z=0.182. A gamma-ray signal was detected with a statistical significance of 10.4 standard deviations (10.4 sigma) for the observations taken during the first three months of 2007, confirming the discovery of this object made by the MAGIC collaboration. The photon spectrum between ~160 GeV and ~1.8 TeV is well described by a power law with an index of Gamma = 3.08 +/- 0.34_stat +/- 0.2_sys. The integral flux is Phi(E > 20…
The field of gamma-ray astronomy has experienced impressive progress over the last decade. Thanks to the advent of a new generation of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS) and thanks to the launch of the Fermi-LAT satellite, several thousand gamma-ray sources are known today, revealing an unexpected ubiquity of particle acceleration processes in the Universe. Major scientific challenges are still ahead, such as the identification of the nature of Dark Matter, the discovery and understanding of the sources of cosmic rays, or the comprehension of the particle acceleration …
We present a time-dependent spectral model of the nebula 3C58 and compare it with available data. The model is for a leptonic nebula, in which particles are subject to synchrotron, inverse Compton, self-synchrotron Compton, adiabatic, and bremsstrahlung processes. We find that 3C58 is compatible with being a particle dominated nebula, with a magnetic field of 35$μ$G. A broken power law injection fits well the multi-frequency data, with a break energy at about 40 GeV. We find that 3C58 is not expected to appear in VERITAS or MAGIC II, unless the local IR background is a factor of \sim20 off Gal…
We have recently interpreted the source MAGIC J0616+225 as a result of delayed TeV emission of cosmic-rays diffusing from IC 443 and interacting with a cloud in the foreground of the remnant. This model was used to make predictions for future observations, especially those to be made with the Fermi satellite. Just recently, AGILE, Fermi, and VERITAS have released new results of their observations of IC 443. In this work, we compare them with the predictions of our model, exploring the GeV to TeV connection in this region of space. We use Fermi data to consider the possibility of constraining t…
The intermediate-frequency peaked BL Lacertae (IBL) object 3C 66A is detected during 2007 - 2008 in VHE (very high energy: E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays with the VERITAS stereoscopic array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. An excess of 1791 events is detected, corresponding to a significance of 21.2 standard deviations (sigma), in these observations (32.8 hours live time). The observed integral flux above 200 GeV is 6% of the Crab Nebula's flux and shows evidence for variability on the time-scale of days. The measured energy spectrum is characterized by a soft power law with photon index …
Gamma-ray observations provide sensitive tests of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). At present the most sensitive tests come from observations of transient events, gamma-ray bursts and flaring AGN. Disadvantages of transients are that an independent confirmation by a different experiment is often not possible and that limits cannot be improved with a longer exposure. Pulsars do not have these disadvantages. Testing Lorentz invariance with pulsars was not considered seriously so far because limits were not competitive. The VERITAS collaboration has recently reported the detection of pulsed em…
We report on the results of two coordinated multiwavelength campaigns that focused on the blazar Markarian 421 during its 2006 and 2008 outbursts. These campaigns obtained UV and X-ray data using the XMM-Newton satellite, while the gamma-ray data were obtained utilizing three imaging atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes, the Whipple 10m telescope and VERITAS, both based in Arizona, as well as the MAGIC telescope, based on La Palma in the Canary Islands. The coordinated effort between the gamma-ray groups allowed for truly simultaneous data in UV/X-ray/gamma-ray wavelengths during a significant port…
